When you ask a traveler where in the world they’d like go next, they could tell you it is a single country — Australia, China, South Africa. Or perhaps a great geographical feature — the Grand Canyon, the Himalaya, or the Adriatic Sea. Or it could be an entire region of the world — the South Pacific, Antarctica, the Spice Road through India, the Trans-Siberian Railway. Fortunately for hearty travelers like myself, there are some places that feed all of those fancies in one jaunt: a country (Peru); a geographical feature (rainforest); and a region that crosses nine nations (The Amazon Rainforest.)

Sunset above the Amazon River in Peru

The Peruvian Amazon — it is not a place that everyone could, or would want to, experience. It is difficult to get to, but not impossible. It is rugged and raw, but beautiful. And like many of the greatest places to travel to, it has its pleasures and its pains.

The pleasures: The romance of this place is palpable. The endless jungle that weaves through the sweltering, sticky and precipitous air is flooded with bizarre creatures and dancing birds, banana plants, impeccable coffee beans, and waterfalls that fall into a mighty river. The songs of the birds fill the air with the most diverse arrangement of benevolent sounds — at times I felt as though the soundtrack of a Disney movie was being cast down from the sky. Exotic flowers peek through airy translucent mosquito nets that dress any establishment that you enter, the fragrance of those flowers unmatched. It is quite far removed from basic civilization… These are some of the pleasures.

The pains: It is the most unromantic place on Earth. I love bugs, I love dirt, but flesh eating fish? Beneath that mighty river of murky brown water swims the mighty piranhas — ready to bite off the hand of any traveler crossing by boat, daydreaming while dangling her hand into the water. SNAP! Alligators sun on the hillside, completely camouflaged except for their darting eyes. CHOMP! Misquotes with malaria nipping at your mosquito nets; tarantulas crawling up the trees at twilight ready to jump; termite mines bruised among tree trunks; suspension bridges strung from trees, violently wobbling any time even the smallest bird lands upon it. Large rodents that look like giant rats wander the grounds. It’s one of the most biodiverse areas on Earth; one of the most lively, and if you are like me — there is a disaster awaiting at every turn. It’s all terribly romantic and of course, in either form of imagination, I am dying to go back.

Thatched roofs made of grass

Bananas dry on wood planks in traditional fashion

Suspension bridges climb through the Amazon, “very safe!”

The piranha den!

Butterfly at the Inkaterra butterfly farm in Puerto Maldanado, Peru

Butterflies at the Inkaterra butterfly farm in Puerto Maldanado

Birds on the Amazon riverbank

Capuchin monkey climbing through the trees

Gold prospecting has become one of the leading industries by locals of the Amazon